Valley Center couple recalled as kind, devoted

A suspected drunken driver struck and killed Carl and Eunice Ackermann while they were walking hand in hand

An undated photograph of Eunice and Carl Ackermann, out walking near Mauka Drive and Old Castle Road, the intersection near where they were killed on July 7. This picture was taken by their neighbor, Kendra Cunningham.
— Kendra Cunningham

An undated photograph of Eunice and Carl Ackermann, out walking near Mauka Drive and Old Castle Road, the intersection near where they were killed on July 7. This picture was taken by their neighbor, Kendra Cunningham.
/ Kendra Cunningham

Michael T. Robledo, a trustee with the Valley Center/Pauma Unified School District board, didn’t know the couple personally but he called their togetherness an inspiration to his family.

“For the last three years, I have been taking my kids to Lilac elementary and I would see them most of the time,” he said. “It was very endearing to see them together holding hands, helping clean up our beautiful community. It was a rare and beautiful sight. In today’s society, with divorce rates so high and the self-centered world we live in, it was nice to see them doing what they did.”